If you’re looking for new bedtime stories to read to your kids, you may want to check out Stephen King’s latest book. Yes, normally that would be a pretty terrible recommendation, but the horror novelist’s new book is for children–and anyone who loves classic fairy tales. On Tuesday, HarperCollins published reimagined version of the classic Brothers Grimm fairy tale Hansel and Gretel. It’s available in hardcover for $21.53 (was $27) at Walmart and Amazon. Alternatively, you can have Stephen King read this bedtime story, as he narrated the audiobook edition.
Previously unpublished illustrations by the late Maurice Sendak accompany King’s words. Sendak, who died in 2012, wrote and illustrated many bestselling children’s books throughout his lengthy career. He’s best known for creating Where the Wild Things Are, which is widely considered one of the best picture books of all time. The new version of Hansel and Gretel was created in partnership with The Maurice Sendak Foundation.
$21.53 (was $27) | Available Now
The recommended reading age is 6-8, which means kids can soon tell their first- or second-grade teacher that they read a Stephen King book.
Picture books come in all different shapes and sizes, but this one is fairly traditional with its 10.5 x 9.5-inch pages. Unlike many picture books, the words and illustrations don’t overlap. The imaginative pictures fill the bulk of the space, and King’s words are formatted like a prose novel on the right side.
Hansel and Gretel was originally published in 1812 by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm–better known as the Brothers Grimm. It’s one of the many highly influential stories found in Grimms’ Fairy Tales. It’s also a fitting fairy tale for Stephen King to tackle. It follows two siblings who are lost in a forest that happens to be home to a witch with a house made of cake and other sweet treats. Unfortunately, the witch and Pennywise have some of the same hobbies.
Hansel and Gretel is just one of roughly 200 fairy tales published by the Brothers Grimm. If you want to read the original, check out the Leather-Bound Classics edition of Grimm’s Complete Fairy Tales for $16.88 (was $25) at Amazon.
This actually isn’t Stephen King’s first children’s book. In 2016, he published Charlie the Choo-Choo under the pen name Beryl Evans. The story originally appeared without illustrations in King’s 1991 novel The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands. Beryl Evans is the fictional author of Charlie the Choo-Choo. The standalone, illustrated version is recommended for toddlers and preschoolers. I read Charlie the Choo-Choo to my son when he was three, and he enjoyed it. Charlie the Choo-Choo’s hardcover edition is $14.66 (was $20) at Amazon.
King’s latest book for adults, the novel Never Flinch, was published in May to great reviews. If you haven’t read it yet, the hardcover edition is on sale for only $20 (was $32). In August, Gallery Books published an 800-page anthology featuring stories set in the world of King’s novel The Stand. The authorized collection of 30-plus stories includes an introduction by King. The hardcover edition of The End of the World As We Know It is discounted to $21 (was $35) at Amazon.
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